Netcity Telecom’s position regarding the recent ANISP’s affirmations on the Netcity project
In the light of the recent declarations of the representatives of ANISP – The National Romanian Internet Providers Association – and of InterLAN Association against Netcity and Netcity Telecom, we would like to make our position public.
Since the publication of the ANCOM Notice regarding the technical and economical conditions of access to the Netcity network in May 2013, our company has made its position public: the notice is arbitrary, does not have actual substantiation in the context of the telecommunications market in Bucharest and does not take into account the Netcity project’s actual operation principles. Thus, Netcity Telecom and the Bucharest City Hall (PMB) have decided to press charges, the file pending with the High Court of Cassation and Justice; until the completion of the trial, Netcity Telecom and PMB cannot resume the implementation of the provisions of this document. Moreover, according to the resolution of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, in the trial against ANISP and other Bucharest operators, the document has the status of a recommendation, as ANISP knows very well due to its legal standing, and therefore it does not have any legal effects on Netcity Telecom or on its current contracts with its clients. Therefore, currently there is no legal basis for ANISP’s claims for enforcement of the provisions of the Notice by Netcity Telecom.
We would like to state again that Netcity Telecom has always operated in full legality, observing Romanian and European law. As we have publicly declared before, on other occasions, Netcity Telecom is a supporter of the regulation process, as long as the regulation is based on a transparent, properly substantiated process, on relevant market analyses, as long as it encourages investments in Romania’s telecommunication infrastructure (one of the prerogatives of ANCOM, in fact) and does not obstruct these investments under pressure of unjustified attacks of professional associations that cannot impose fees, whose role is in the understanding of the competitive and economic context in which they unfold their activity, according to the specificities of the project and the complex needs of various operators. Thus, InterLAN’s claim before the Competition Council should also be regarded in reverse, since association in order to impose fees leads to cartelization.
Regarding the disappearance of operators from the market or their bankruptcy subsequent to the creation of Netcity, we believe that these declarations as well as the measures taken by some of ANISP members for boycotting Netcity were aimed at maintaining the current situation of the telecommunications networks illegally located in the air space of Bucharest, with the purpose of continuing to avoid the payment of all legally owed taxes and fees. Thus, according to the latest financial statements published on the website of the Ministry of Finance and contrary to the declarations of ANISP, the rent due for the use of Netcity is less than 5% of the total annual expenses registered by small and medium operators, clients of Netcity Telecom. Obviously, the “losses” that these operators would register by paying all their legal taxes and fees in the entire Bucharest would have completely different sizes in comparison to the costs of Netcity, a network that does not significantly cover the area of the town. Supposing that ANISP wished to become legal and would therefore obtain construction permits for the air networks in Bucharest, and pay rent for the use of this infrastructure – approximately 120,000 wooden, metallic or concrete pillars – according to our estimates, the city would cash in approximately Eur 7 million from authorizations and over Eur 10 million from rent.
On the other hand, the reduction in the number of operators or the consolidation of the market, caused by the purchase of smaller operators by those with more financial strength or undergoing fast development (during 2009-2014, only three of the operators in Netcity were purchased by larger operators) is a normal phenomenon, part of an operating economy, a tendency that can also be seen at a European level on the mobile and cable telecommunications segment – this reduction cannot be pinned on Netcity in the case of the Bucharest market.
Therefore, we believe that ANISP requirements harm, on one side, the legal and operational framework of the market, forcing the application of a non-administrative act with the status of a recommendation, as well as the interest of the public, the telecommunication industry and the competition framework on the other hand, by harming operators who choose to observe the law, installing legal networks. The reappearance of the aerial cables “above” the Netcity network goes to show that some of the telecommunications operators in Bucharest, generally the small and medium ones, have not understood the requirements and benefits of the Netcity project, choosing to defy the legal framework instituted by the Bucharest General Council, but also their colleagues who observe these provisions. We therefore salute the recent actions of PMB of dismantling the aerial cables that have reappeared in Netcity areas.
Netcity, the subterraneous optic fiber infrastructure network established according to the initiative of the PMB, is one of the most ambitious and useful projects carried out in Bucharest and is aligned with the European policy of economic and social development of the local communities. The investment in the network developed by Netcity Telecom, exclusively funded by means of private sources, has exceeded Eur 40 million, the network measuring more than 880 km of troughing. The project, which, through the royalties paid to PMB from the revenues recorded, contributed to the local budget by more than Eur 1 million during 2008 – 2013, is a supporter of the democratization of the access to services. Therefore, consumers have the possibility to finally choose their Internet, telephone or cable provider, without being forced to adopt the “tethered” supplier of the neighborhood, since now any operator can reach any building connected to Netcity, thus preventing the past understandings through which operators would “divide” geographically the neighborhoods for which they developed infrastructure, monopolizing the access to services and holding clients captive. Moreover, the project situates Bucharest among European capitals from the point of view of the modern underground infrastructure, by removing the plethora of aerial cables from the pillars lining the streets of the capital, and contributes to the development of a modern city, aligned to the latest European standards in terms of urbanism and quality of life.
For more information, please contact the Corporate Communication Department by calling 021/2012319 or sending an e-mail to: dcc@uti.eu.com.
